Saturday, March 28, 2009

I will have to admit that these are not my words, although, I wish they were. I found this tale in my in box for my speak-to-the-rest-of-the-world email address. It was one of those Fw:fw:fw: deals which some folks find annoying. I do not necessarily take umbrage with these missives as I firmly believe that everything happens in my life a an intricate part of a Grand design of the God of My Understanding. That was "Grand" not "Intelligent" design, so those who are more liberal then I can read on without cause to jump on a soapbox and shut this page down in protest. Likewise, my more Republican (that means conservative...doesn't it?) can read on with assurance that these words will hold true for them also.

As mentioned earlier, I did not write the following story and do not know the original author. I will use quotation marks to separate it in the hopes that I do not get sued for copyright infringement. ( What will they get? The two hundred dollars I have earned as a writer, the second hundred of which promised but as yet not arrived?) The message had been through so many forwards that the original author must have got drowned out by all those eager to spread the word of the one true God. I pass it on because it demonstrates that the message is more powerful then the words in it.

"A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students,'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheistprofessor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his newstudents to stand.

'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?''Yes sir,' the student says.

'So you believe in God?''Absolutely.'

'Is God good?''Sure! God's good.'

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?''Yes.'

'Are you good or evil?''The Bible says I'm evil.'

The professor grins knowingly.. 'Aha! The Bible!' He considers for a moment.'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you cancure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'

'Yes sir, I would..'

'So you're good...!''I wouldn't say that.'

'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could..Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, doeshe? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed toJesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'

The student remains silent.

'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from aglass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything,then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principlethat our works define who we are, then God is evil.'

Again, the student has no answer.. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred?Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'

The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'

'So who created them?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question.'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaksaway to pace in front of the classroom.. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,'he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'

The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use toidentify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'

'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'

'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.''Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science haswith God. There is no evidence, only faith.'

At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment beforeasking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'

'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.'

'And is there such a thing as cold?''Yes, son, there's cold too.''No sir, there isn't.'

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The roomsuddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can havelots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, whiteheat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. Wecan hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go anyfurther after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would beable to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.'

'Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmitsenergy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold isonly a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not theopposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, soundinglike a hammer.

'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn'tdarkness?'

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence ofsomething. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashinglight, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's calleddarkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word.'

'In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darknessdarker, wouldn't you?'

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be agood semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'

'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to startwith, and so your conclusion must also be flawed..'

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can youexplain how?'

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'Youargue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God.You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we canmeasure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'

'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fullyunderstood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to beignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Deathis not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.'

'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from amonkey?'

'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes,of course I do.'

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes wherethe argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannoteven prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teachingyour opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion hassubsided.

'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let megive you an example of what I mean'

The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who hasever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.

'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt theprofessor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears tohave done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable,demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all duerespect, sir.'

'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his faceunreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'llhave to take them on faith.'

'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,'the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'

Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see iteveryday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is inthe multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. Thesemanifestations are nothing else but evil.'

To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it doesnot exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just likedarkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence ofGod. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when mandoes not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comeswhen there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'

The professor sat down."

Now I will admit that the whole "Is there a God"discussion annoys me. Why would someone have to figure out something so evident? Okay, maybe not the God I believe in, but the fact that one being thought all this up. There is evidence in everything around us. I will not details this evidence except to say that statistically, God has to exist. Too many people would be out of work if he doesn't. 33,600,000 web pages on Google talk about this with no definitive answer. One site lists the religions and their adherents. 4,743,000,000 people believe in God (according to this site). Given that there are 6,896,415,605 people in the world according to the World Clock that tells me that approximately 70% of the world believe in some sort of Greater Being(s). Who am I to dispute 7 out of ten people, especially if you take into account my math grades while in school.

All I really know is that I haven't written in a while and needed to enlighten the masses with something. This served a good muse (I hope) for my next piece. I received word that I am to be published again in an anthology about school teachers. One more bold step towards the conquest of the written word as we know it. Peace.